Last year, the governor and state Legislature raised the statewide minimum to $8 starting this year, which is 75 cents above both the federal minimum and the old state rate. The minimum for most New York workers will increase at the end of 2014 to $8.75 an hour and to $9 an hour at the end of 2015. The rates aren't indexed to inflation. The minimum for workers in the restaurant industry who get tips remain $5 an hour.

In a radio interview hours after the poll was released, Cuomo repeated arguments he made previously that letting municipalities raise their base wage could lead to destructive competition "to lure the employees or the employers right from the other side of the border." He also criticized the poll results, saying he didn't think they were tremendously instructive.

"Unless you give people the rationale or understanding of the issue, a lot of these answers don't mean anything," he said.

Advocates for New York's working poor have urged the Legislature to revisit the issue this year, saying the minimum should be $10 to $15 an hour and include workers who get tips. Hunger Action Network has called $8 "a sub-poverty wage" and noted recent U.S. Conference of Mayors surveys from 25 cities showing 43 percent of the households using emergency food programs had someone employed.

Working Families Party New York Director Bill Lipton said Tuesday's poll results spoke clearly. "Allowing cities to lift workers out of poverty by raising wages has overwhelming support across every region of the state," he said.

President Barack Obama has called for raising the federal minimum to $10.10 an hour.

Siena's poll of 802 registered voters last week had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.